Equity market closes strong, investors gain N1.45bn

The domestic bourse on Friday ended the week on a positive note, with 844.49 million shares valued at N15.04 billion exchanged in 15,255 deals.

As a result the All-Share index, went up by 2.88 per cent or 2651.2 points to close at 94,538.12 against 91,896.97 posted on Thursday.

Similarly, market capitalisation which opened at N50.289 trillion closed at N51.735 trillion to gain N1.45 billion or 2.88 per cent for investors.

Consequently, the Year-To-Date (YTD) return rose to 26.43 per cent.

Sustained buying interests in the shares of industries such as Dangote Cement, BUA Cement, MTN Nigeria and tier-one banks kept the market in a positive terrain throughout the week.

Meanwhile, Transcorp led the activity chart in volume by 80.32 million units valued at N151.95 million, followed by Veritas Kapital by 80.07 million units valued at N59.63 million.

Fidelity Bank traded in volume of 60.54 million units valued at N785.11 million, while Jaiz Bank traded shares of 36.32 million valued at N131.77 million and United Bank of Africa(UBA) traded 34.85 shares valued at N1.08 billion.

On the gainers’ table, BUA Cement and Seplat Energy led in percentage terms of 10 each to close at N148.50 and N2541 per share, respectively.

May and Baker Nigeria Plc followed by 9.99 per cent to close at N8.26, Dangote Cement appreciated by 9.98 per cent to close at N538.80, while Honeywell Flour Mills gained 9.96 per cent to close at N5.85 per share.

Conversely, LASACO Assurance Plc led the losers’ table by 9.85 per cent to close at N2.47, followed by C&I Leasing Plc by 9.82 per cent to close at N3.95 per share.

Also, Mutual Benefits Assurance shed 9.41 per cent to close at 77k, trailed by Nigeria Aviation Handling Company Plc with 9.38 per cent to close at N33.80 and PZ Cussons by 9.31 per cent to close at N35.55 per share.

However, Market breadth closed negative with 35 declining issues outnumbering 33 advancing ones.

Analysis of the market activities showed trade turnover settled lower relative to the previous session, with the value of transactions down by 32.67 per cent.